DOCSLIB.ORG

Vowel-Consonant Harmony in Uyghur

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Vowel-Consonant Harmony in Uyghur Vowel-consonant harmony in Uyghur Laura Becker 1 Introduction The present paper addresses a typologically rare pattern of harmonic vowel-consonant interactions in Uyghur, an Eastern Turkic language spoken in China (Engesæth et al. 2010: 5). In addition to the commonly attested backness harmony in vowels, velar and uvular consonants in Uyghur participate in harmony, resulting in three types of harmonic processes: (i) vowel-vowel, (ii) consonant-consonant, and (iii) vowel-consonant interactions.1 The three harmony types, which will be addressed in more detail in section 2, are illustrated below. Note that harmony between consonants is attested only when the harmony neutral vowels /i/ and/or /e/ are present, as in (2): (1) Backness harmony between vowels (2) Backness harmony between consonants a. søz-lEr ‘word-PL’ (SU 48) a. kim-lik ‘identity’ (CIC 8) b. tSatS-lar ‘hair-PL’ (SU 48) b. qijintSi-liq ‘difficulty’ (GPC 10) (3) Backness harmony between vowels and consonants a. jygyr-mEk ‘running’ (GTB 301) b. jaz-maq ‘writing’ (GTB 310) Pattillo (2013) addresses the consonant alternation in more detail and discusses the possibility of con- sonant harmony in Uyghur. The author concludes that the Uyghur pattern does not feature consonant harmony for alternating consonants being adjacent to vowels participating in backness harmony. How- ever, considering neutral vowels and roots with vowels and/or consonants of different backness specifi- cation shows that there are two distinct but interacting harmony processes in the language. This will be discussed in section 2.4; for convenience, the three main points of the interaction are summarized here: (i) Affix vowels agree with the last harmonic root vowel in backness; (ii) harmonizing consonants agree with the closest harmonic/harmonizing segment which can be either a vowel or a consonant; (iii) if both a consonant and a vowel are adjacent segments to a harmonizing consonant, the latter agrees with the consonant. This phenomenon is less common cross-linguistically for three reasons. Firstly, long-distance har- mony processes between consonants and vowels are much rarer than local harmonic interactions (Rose & Walker 2011: 249). Secondly, reported alternations between velar and uvular consonants that interact with vowels involve the feature [±high], so that velars co-occur with [+high] vowels, whereas uvulars pattern with [–high] ones, as in, e.g. Sibe (Tungusic) (Rose & Walker 2011: 250), and Mongolic (Svantes- son et al. 2005: 28; Beltzung et al. 2015: 230). Similar assimilations are attested in Misantla Totonac and Tepehua, where a high vowel is lowered in the context of uvulars (Hansson 2001: 70,73). In Uyghur, however, it is rather the feature [±back] that distinguishes between velars and uvulars and makes them co- occur with [–back] and [+back] vowels, respectively, whereas high vowels and uvulars are not restricted in their co-occurrence. Thirdly, Ní Chiosáin & Padgett (1993) and Padgett (2011) discuss cross-category interactions between vowels and consonants and note that consonant-to-vowel assimilations, in contrast 1A similar, though not identical, phenomenon is also attested in other Eastern Turkic languages: velar and uvular consonants occur adjacent to front and back vowels, respectively. In Turkmen, Tatar, or Bashkir, this is found on the phonetic level only. In Uyghur, on the other hand, velar and uvular consonants are not allophones but distinct phonemes, which take part in backness harmony. 1 to vowel-to-consonant assimilations, seem to be unattested, palatalizing mutations being "the only clear exception" (Padgett 2011: 1766). The Uyghur pattern could be another potential counter-example to this generalization, since consonant harmony depends on vowel harmony, but not vice versa. Section 3 of the present paper proposes an Agreement by Correspondence approach to model the three types of harmonic interaction. ABC establishes correspondence relations between segments based on their similarity and imposes ID-constraints onto outputs of the corresponding segments, which results in the harmony pattern observed. As for the phenomenon in Uyghur, similarity requires segments to be [dorsal], which makes them agree in their feature specification for [±back]. ABC as theoretical framework has been chosen, since it deals with this kind of parasitic harmony in a very straight-forward way, i.e. all [dorsal] segments enter the correspondence relation, the harmonic feature being [±back]. In addition, the latter will be shown to be sensitive to contrast in order to ac- count for the distribution of neutral segments that are [dorsal]. By doing so, there is no need to assume underspecification. ABC having been developed to model consonant harmony driven by similarity (Rose & Walker 2004; Hansson 2001), it could also be applied to vowel harmony (Krämer 2003; Rhodes 2012) and consonant dissimilation processes (Bennett 2013). The present paper will show another type of application of the ABC framework, namely long-distance consonant-vowel interactions. 2 Data This section gives an overview of the phoneme inventory of Uyghur, the basic functioning of backness harmony, and illustrates the distribution of velar and uvular consonants within roots and affixes. Finally, the relevant root types are introduced. 2.1 Uyghur phoneme inventory In Uyghur, all high, mid, and low vowels can be divided into [±back] and [±round]. The vowel inven- tory, however, is not symmetric: the two [–back], unrounded vowels /i/ and /e/ do not have a [+back] counterpart. This can account for their neutral2 behaviour (see section 3.3). –back +back –rd +rd –rd +rd +high /i/ /y/ /u/ –high–low /e/ /ø/ /o/ +low /E/ /a/ Table 1: The vowel inventory of Uyghur (Hahn 1991b; Comrie 1997). The consonant inventory is given in table 2 below. For the purpose of the present paper, especially the velar and palatal stops will be relevant, since these are the consonants participating in backness harmony. 2Uyghur features phonological processes that derive /i/ from /a/ and /E/ in non-initial open syllables and /e/ from the same vowels in short initial syllables of a word with /i/ in the following syllable. Those derived vowels are not neutral in all cases. This will not be of concern in the present paper, for a detailed account these two processes see Vaux (2000) or Hahn (1991b: 51). 2 labial alveo-dental alveo-palatal velar uvular laryngeal stops /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ /q/ /å/ P affricates /ts/ /tS/ /dZ/ fricatives /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/ /S//Z//X/ /h/ nasals /m/ /n/ /N/ liquids /l/ /r/ glides /w/ /j/ Table 2: The consonant inventory of Uyghur (Hahn 1991b: 59). Only the velars and uvulars shaded in the table above participate in harmony; /N/ and /X/ do not participate (see section 3.3 on neutral segments). 2.2 Backness harmony of vowels Similar to most other Turkic languages, Uyghur has backness harmony, i.e. any suffix vowel must agree with the vowel of the preceding morpheme in backness until a word boundary is encountered (Hahn 1991b: 46). However, two other processes seem to blur harmony: vowel raising and umlauting. Raising derives /i/ from /a/ and /E/ in non-initial open syllables and umlauting results in /e/ from underlying /i/ or /E/ in short initial syllables of a word with /i/ in the following syllable (Vaux 2000). Also the vowels /i/ and /e/ being transparent, the number of participating vowels is reduced in Uyghur, compared to, e.g. Turkish. Nevertheless, all suffixes that feature harmonizing vowels participate in harmony and surface with the respective vowel selected according to the harmonic properties of the root.3 The following examples show the harmonic restrictions on affix vowels. As can be seen in the basic examples in (4) and (5), roots with [αback] vowels trigger [αback] vowels in affixes: (4) The plural suffix -lar bEl-lEr ‘waist-PL’ (SU 48)4 tSatS-lar ‘hair-PL’ (SU 48) kyn-lEr ‘day-PL’ (SU 48) toj-lar ‘feast-PL’ (SU 48) søz-lEr ‘word-PL’ (SU 48) quS-lar ‘bird-PL’ (SU 48) (5) The negative suffix -ma kEt-mE- ‘go-NEG’ (SU 48) qat-ma- ‘harden-NEG’ (SU 48) kyt-mE- ‘wait-NEG’ (SU 48) qoj-ma- ‘put-NEG’ (SU 48) køj-mE- ‘singe-NEG’ (SU 48) qur-ma- ‘dry-NEG’ (SU 48) In addition, most native roots are harmonic, i.e. all vowels are specified for [±back]. Nevertheless, vowels of different backness specification are tolerated within roots, mostly occurring in loan words. In case roots feature vowels of different backness specifications, the surface form of the harmonizing suffix vowel(s) is determined by the harmonic vowel that is closest to it: 3Uyghur additionally exhibits labial harmony with non-low vowels. Since this is not relevant for the discussion of the present paper, it will not be addressed in the following sections. For a description of labial harmony in Uyghur, see Hahn (1991b), Comrie (1997) or De Jong (2007). 4SU refers to Hahn (1991b). 3 (6) V-inconsistent roots saPEt-lEr ‘hour-PL’ (GTB 6)5 universitet-lar ‘university-PL’ (GTB 6) adEm-lEr ‘man-PL’ (WP 61) As has already been mentioned, the vowels /e/ and /i/ are neutral to harmony due to their lack of a harmonic partner (/I/ and /7/, respectively) specified for [±back]. Both vowels are transparent, i.e. both can co-occur with other front and back vowels in the root and neither of them participates in backness harmony: (7) /i/ and /e/ with [–back] vowels (8) /i/ and /e/ with [+back] vowels nErsi-lEr ‘thing-PL’ (WP 15) jelindZa-S-qa ‘burn-GER-DAT’ (WP 483) kerEklik ‘need’ (CRA 6) qiz-lar ‘girl-PL’ (GTB 153) Since the vowel /e/ only surfaces in native words due to umlauting (cf. Hahn (1991b: 51)), there are no suffixes that contain /e/. The vowel /i/ on the other hand, occurs in affixes with both front and back roots.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • LINGUISTICS 221 LECTURE #3 the BASIC SOUNDS of ENGLISH 1. STOPS a Stop Consonant Is Produced with a Complete Closure of Airflow
    LINGUISTICS 221 LECTURE #3 Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology THE BASIC SOUNDS OF ENGLISH 1. STOPS A stop consonant is produced with a complete closure of airflow in the vocal tract; the air pressure has built up behind the closure; the air rushes out with an explosive sound when released. The term plosive is also used for oral stops. ORAL STOPS: e.g., [b] [t] (= plosives) NASAL STOPS: e.g., [m] [n] (= nasals) There are three phases of stop articulation: i. CLOSING PHASE (approach or shutting phase) The articulators are moving from an open state to a closed state; ii. CLOSURE PHASE (= occlusion) Blockage of the airflow in the oral tract; iii. RELEASE PHASE Sudden reopening; it may be accompanied by a burst of air. ORAL STOPS IN ENGLISH a. BILABIAL STOPS: The blockage is made with the two lips. spot [p] voiceless baby [b] voiced 1 b. ALVEOLAR STOPS: The blade (or the tip) of the tongue makes a closure with the alveolar ridge; the sides of the tongue are along the upper teeth. lamino-alveolar stops or Check your apico-alveolar stops pronunciation! stake [t] voiceless deep [d] voiced c. VELAR STOPS: The closure is between the back of the tongue (= dorsum) and the velum. dorso-velar stops scar [k] voiceless goose [g] voiced 2. NASALS (= nasal stops) The air is stopped in the oral tract, but the velum is lowered so that the airflow can go through the nasal tract. All nasals are voiced. NASALS IN ENGLISH a. BILABIAL NASAL: made [m] b. ALVEOLAR NASAL: need [n] c.
    [Show full text]
  • The Violability of Backness in Retroflex Consonants
    The violability of backness in retroflex consonants Paul Boersma University of Amsterdam Silke Hamann ZAS Berlin February 11, 2005 Abstract This paper addresses remarks made by Flemming (2003) to the effect that his analysis of the interaction between retroflexion and vowel backness is superior to that of Hamann (2003b). While Hamann maintained that retroflex articulations are always back, Flemming adduces phonological as well as phonetic evidence to prove that retroflex consonants can be non-back and even front (i.e. palatalised). The present paper, however, shows that the phonetic evidence fails under closer scrutiny. A closer consideration of the phonological evidence shows, by making a principled distinction between articulatory and perceptual drives, that a reanalysis of Flemming’s data in terms of unviolated retroflex backness is not only possible but also simpler with respect to the number of language-specific stipulations. 1 Introduction This paper is a reply to Flemming’s article “The relationship between coronal place and vowel backness” in Phonology 20.3 (2003). In a footnote (p. 342), Flemming states that “a key difference from the present proposal is that Hamann (2003b) employs inviolable articulatory constraints, whereas it is a central thesis of this paper that the constraints relating coronal place to tongue-body backness are violable”. The only such constraint that is violable for Flemming but inviolable for Hamann is the constraint that requires retroflex coronals to be articulated with a back tongue body. Flemming expresses this as the violable constraint RETRO!BACK, or RETRO!BACKCLO if it only requires that the closing phase of a retroflex consonant be articulated with a back tongue body.
    [Show full text]
  • Sociophonetic Variation in Bolivian Quechua Uvular Stops
    Title Page Sociophonetic Variation in Bolivian Quechua Uvular Stops by Eva Bacas University of Pittsburgh, 2019 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2019 Committee Page UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This thesis was presented by Eva Bacas It was defended on November 8, 2019 and approved by Alana DeLoge, Quechua Instructor, Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh Melinda Fricke, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh Gillian Gallagher, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, New York University Thesis Advisor/Dissertation Director: Claude Mauk, Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh ii Copyright © by Eva Bacas 2019 iii Abstract Sociophonetic Variation in Bolivian Quechua Uvular Stops Eva Bacas, BPhil University of Pittsburgh, 2019 Quechua is an indigenous language of the Andes region of South America. In Cochabamba, Bolivia, Quechua and Spanish have been in contact for over 500 years. In this thesis, I explore sociolinguistic variation among bilingual speakers of Cochabamba Quechua (CQ) and Spanish by investigating the relationship between the production of the voiceless uvular stop /q/ and speakers’ sociolinguistic backgrounds. I conducted a speech production study and sociolinguistic interview with seven bilingual CQ-Spanish speakers. I analyzed manner of articulation and place of articulation variation. Results indicate that manner of articulation varies primarily due to phonological factors, and place of articulation varies according to sociolinguistic factors. This reveals that among bilingual CQ-Spanish speakers, production of voiceless uvular stop /q/ does vary sociolinguistically.
    [Show full text]
  • English Phonetic Vowel Shortening and Lengthening As Perceptually Active for the Poles
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE Title: English phonetic vowel shortening and lengthening as perceptually active for the Poles Author: Arkadiusz Rojczyk Citation style: Rojczyk Arkadiusz. (2007). English phonetic vowel shortening and lengthening as perceptually active for the Poles. W: J. Arabski (red.), "On foreign language acquisition and effective learning" (S. 237-249). Katowice : Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego Phonological subsystem English phonetic vowel shortening and lengthening as perceptually active for the Poles Arkadiusz Rojczyk University of Silesia, Katowice 1. Introduction Auditory perception is one of the most thriving and active domains of psy­ cholinguistics. Recent years have witnessed manifold attempts to investigate and understand how humans perceive linguistic sounds and what principles govern the process. The major assumption underlying the studies on auditory perception is a simple fact that linguistic sounds are means of conveying meaning, encoded by a speaker, to a hearer. The speaker, via articulatory gestures, transmits a message encoded in acoustic waves. This is the hearer, on the other hand, who, using his perceptual apparatus, reads acoustic signals and decodes them into the meaning. Therefore, in phonetic terms, the whole communicative act can be divided into three stages. Articulatory - the speaker encodes the message by sound production. Acoustic - the message is transmitted to the hearer as acous­ tic waves. Auditory - the hearer perceives sounds and decodes them into the meaning. Each of the three stages is indispensable for effective communication. Of the three aforementioned stages of communication, the auditory percep­ tion is the least amenable to precise depiction and understanding.
    [Show full text]
  • A Cinefluorographic Study of the Articulation of Uvular Consonants in Swedish and West Greenlandic
    A cinefluorographic study of the articulation of uvular consonants in Swedish and West Greenlandic Abstract This poster concerns the articulation of uvular consonants with particular reference to quantal aspects of speech production. Data from X-ray motion films are presented. Two speakers of Southern Swedish give examples of [R], and one speaker of West Greenlandic Inuit gives examples of [R] and [q]. Traditionally, uvular consonants are said to be produced by articulating the dorsum against the uvula. Unfortunately, this ought not work, owing to the presence of air passages either side of the uvular: (1) these passages should prevent occlusion for a stop, (2) similarly they should prevent necessary conditions for a Bernoulli force for a tremulant, and (3) they should prevent a Reynolds number sufficiently small for fricatives. The formant transitions to vowels adjacent to these consonants suggest instead that the place of articulation is in the upper pharynx, at the same place as is constricted for [o]-like vowels. The X-ray films confirm that these three subjects constrict the upper pharynx for these consonants. But there was a difference of timing of the uvular consonant gesture for these two languages. The Swedish subjects completed the vowel as usual and then initiated the uvular tongue body gesture. The Inuit subject initiated both vowel and uvular consonant gestures earlier, so that the vocoid segment consisted of the transition to the uvular consonant, reflecting the regular pharyngeal assimilation of vowels preceding uvulars in West Greenlandic. Wood, S. A cinefluorographic study of uvular consonants in Swedish and West Greenlandic. Poster presented at the conference From Sound to Sense, 11-13 June 2004.
    [Show full text]
  • A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary
    S. L. Nikolayev S. A. Starostin A NORTH CAUCASIAN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY Edited by S. A. Starostin ***************** ****************ASTERISK PUBLISHERS * Moscow * 1994 The two volumes contain a systematic reconstruction of the phonology and vocabulary of Proto-North-Caucasian - the ancestor of numerous modern languages of the Northern Caucasus, as well as of some extinct languages of ancient Anatolia. Created by two leading Russian specialists in linguistic prehistory, the book will be valuable for all specialists in comparative linguistics and history of ancient Near East and Europe. © S. L. Nikolayev, S. A. Starostin 1994 TABLE OF CONTENTS Editor' s foreword. , . Preface List of abbreviations Literature I ntr oduct ion Dictionary ? . 200 9 . 236 5 . , . ..............242 a' i ... ' 252 a ............. 275 b ...... 285 c 322 c 3 3 L t ^39 C 352 £ 376 : 381 d 397 e 409 4 2 5 Y 474 B 477 h 48 5 h 5 00 h 5 0 3 H 342 i 625 i 669 j '. 6 7 3 k. 68 7 fc 715 I 7 4 2 1 : .... 7 5 4 X. ! 7 5 8 X ; 766 X 7 7 3 L 7 86 t. ' 7 87 n 844 o. 859 p. 865 p. 878 q . 882 q 907 r. ..... 943 s... i 958 s. 973 S. 980 t . 990 t 995 ft. ...... 1009 u 1010 u 1013 V 1016 w. 1039 x 1060 X. ........ 1067 z. ... 1084 z 1086 2. 1089 3 1 090 3 1101 5 1105 I ndices. 1111 5 EDITOR'S FOREWORD This dictionary has a long history. The idea of composing it was already ripe in 1979, and the basic cardfiles were composed in 1980-1983, during long winter months of our collaboration with S.
    [Show full text]
  • Part 1: Introduction to The
    PREVIEW OF THE IPA HANDBOOK Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet PARTI Introduction to the IPA 1. What is the International Phonetic Alphabet? The aim of the International Phonetic Association is to promote the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. For both these it is necessary to have a consistent way of representing the sounds of language in written form. From its foundation in 1886 the Association has been concerned to develop a system of notation which would be convenient to use, but comprehensive enough to cope with the wide variety of sounds found in the languages of the world; and to encourage the use of thjs notation as widely as possible among those concerned with language. The system is generally known as the International Phonetic Alphabet. Both the Association and its Alphabet are widely referred to by the abbreviation IPA, but here 'IPA' will be used only for the Alphabet. The IPA is based on the Roman alphabet, which has the advantage of being widely familiar, but also includes letters and additional symbols from a variety of other sources. These additions are necessary because the variety of sounds in languages is much greater than the number of letters in the Roman alphabet. The use of sequences of phonetic symbols to represent speech is known as transcription. The IPA can be used for many different purposes. For instance, it can be used as a way to show pronunciation in a dictionary, to record a language in linguistic fieldwork, to form the basis of a writing system for a language, or to annotate acoustic and other displays in the analysis of speech.
    [Show full text]
  • SSC: the Science of Talking
    SSC: The Science of Talking (for year 1 students of medicine) Week 3: Sounds of the World’s Languages (vowels and consonants) Michael Ashby, Senior Lecturer in Phonetics, UCL PLIN1101 Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology A Lecture 4 page 1 Vowel Description Essential reading: Ashby & Maidment, Chapter 5 4.1 Aim: To introduce the basics of vowel description and the main characteristics of the vowels of RP English. 4.2 Definition of vowel: Vowels are produced without any major obstruction of the airflow; the intra-oral pressure stays low, and vowels are therefore sonorant sounds. Vowels are normally voiced. Vowels are articulated by raising some part of the tongue body (that is the front or the back of the tongue notnot the tip or blade) towards the roof of the oral cavity (see Figure 1). 4.3 Front vowels are produced by raising the front of the tongue towards the hard palate. Back vowels are produced by raising the back of the tongue towards the soft palate. Central vowels are produced by raising the centre part of the tongue towards the junction of the hard and soft palates. 4.4 The height of a vowel refers to the degree of raising of the relevant part of the tongue. If the tongue is raised so as to be close to the roof of the oral cavity then a close or high vowel is produced. If the tongue is only slightly raised, so that there is a wide gap between its highest point and the roof of the oral cavity, then an open or lowlowlow vowel results.
    [Show full text]
  • Word Study Guide for Parents
    Descriptions of Word Study Patterns/Concepts Purpose of Word Study • It teaches students to examine words to discover the regularities, patterns, and conventions of the English language in order to read and spell. • It increases specific knowledge of words – the spelling and meaning of individual words. 3 Layers of word study • Alphabet – learning the relationship between letters and sounds • Pattern – learning specific groupings of letters and their sounds • Meaning – learning the meaning of groups of letters such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Vocabulary increases at this layer. Sorting – organizing words into groups based on similarities in their patterns or meaning. Oddballs – words that cannot be grouped into any of the identified categories of a sort. Students should be taught that there are always words that “break the rules” and do not follow the general pattern. Sound marks / / - Sound marks around a letter or pattern tell the student to focus only on the sound rather than the actual letters. (example: the word gem could be grouped into the /j/ category because it sounds like j at the beginning). Vowel (represented by V) – one of 6 letters causing the mouth to open when vocalized (a, e, i, o, u, and usually y). A single vowel sound is heard in every syllable of a word. Consonants (represented by C) – all letters other than the vowels. Consonant sounds are blocked by the lips, tongue, or teeth during articulation. Concepts in Order of Instruction Initial and final consonants – students are instructed to look at pictures and identify the beginning sound. They then connect the beginning sound to the letter that makes that sound.
    [Show full text]
  • Dominance in Coronal Nasal Place Assimilation: the Case of Classical Arabic
    http://elr.sciedupress.com English Linguistics Research Vol. 9, No. 3; 2020 Dominance in Coronal Nasal Place Assimilation: The Case of Classical Arabic Zainab Sa’aida Correspondence: Zainab Sa’aida, Department of English, Tafila Technical University, Tafila 66110, Jordan. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6645-6957, E-mail: [email protected] Received: August 16, 2020 Accepted: Sep. 15, 2020 Online Published: Sep. 21, 2020 doi:10.5430/elr.v9n3p25 URL: https://doi.org/10.5430/elr.v9n3p25 Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate place assimilation processes of coronal nasal in classical Arabic. I hypothesise that coronal nasal behaves differently in different assimilatory situations in classical Arabic. Data of the study were collected from the Holy Quran. It was referred to Quran.com for the pronunciations and translations of the data. Data of the study were analysed from the perspective of Mohanan’s dominance in assimilation model. Findings of the study have revealed that coronal nasal shows different assimilatory behaviours when it occurs in different syllable positions. Coronal nasal onset seems to fail to assimilate a whole or a portion of the matrix of a preceding obstruent or sonorant coda within a phonological word. However, coronal nasal in the coda position shows different phonological behaviours. Keywords: assimilation, dominance, coronal nasal, onset, coda, classical Arabic 1. Introduction An assimilatory situation in natural languages has two elements in which one element dominates the other. Nasal place assimilation occurs when a nasal phoneme takes on place features of an adjacent consonant. This study aims at investigating place assimilation processes of coronal nasal in classical Arabic (CA, henceforth).
    [Show full text]
  • Vowel Height and Dorsals: Allophonic Differences Cue Contrasts Gillian Gallagher, New York University
    Vowel height and dorsals: allophonic differences cue contrasts Gillian Gallagher, New York University Overview: A phonemic contrast between uvular and velar consonants in Quechua is often additionally cued by allophonic differences in surrounding vowel height: uvulars trigger lowering of a surrounding high vowel, e.g., [kiru] ‘tooth’ but [qeru] ‘vase’. An identification task finds that allophonic vowel height is used as a strong cue to consonant place, but that mid vowels cue uvular place more strongly than high vowels cue velar place. This is interpreted as showing that the more limited distribution of mid vowels makes these vowels more informative. Vowel height: Cochabamba Quechua has three phonemic vowels /i u a/. The high vowels /i u/ surface as mid [e o] when a uvular [q q’ qh] precedes or follows (Bills et al. 1969), e.g., [kusa] ‘good’ but [qosa] ‘husband’. An acoustic study confirmed this lowering effect root internally, and also documented lowering from a suffixal uvular onto a root vowel, contra previous claims that lowering only applies morpheme internally (Molina Vital 2014). Root internally, vowels are lower (higher F1) when preceded by a uvular consonant than when preceded by a velar or labial, e.g., [hap’i-ni] ‘I grab’, [p’aki-ni] ‘I break’ but [saqe-ni] ‘I leave’. Across a morpheme boundary, a suffixal uvular consonant lowers a preceding stem vowel, e.g., [hap’i-ni] ‘I grab’ but [hap’e- rqa] ‘he grabbed’. This pattern holds of both front and back vowels, and comes from data collected from 10 near-monolingual speakers. A result of vowel allophony is that the contrast between uvular and velar consonants is often cued by differences in surrounding vowels as well as in the consonants themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Vowel Articulation
    1 Linguistics 580 Phonetics Vowel Articulation Goals (1) to develop some familiarity with the relationship between articulatory parameters relevant to the production of vowels and their acoustic consequences. (2) to learn how to distinguish particular vowels in terms of articulatory parameters. Model We will use a model of the vocal tract called CASY (Configurable Articulatory Synthesis) to adjust the positions of vocal tract articulators. From those positions, a 3D vocal tract shape is calculated (2D midsagittal version is plotted), the resonances of that tube are calculated (from the physics), a filter function is calculated and is used to filter a glottal-like buzz. The resulting sound can be played. The articulators that can be moved are shown by little '+' markers on the Vocal Tract Display. They are labelled the figure below. 2 The articulators can be moved by positioning the mouse pointer over one of these markers, then holding down the button and dragging it to a new position. As you are dragging, the articulator will move and the vocal tract shape will be updated appropriately. A new filter function and formants will also be displayed, and a new sound can be played. The articulator positions are defined relative to one another in a dependence hierarchy. The lower lip, tongue body, and tongue tip are dependent on the position of the jaw, so when the jaw moves, these articulators more along with it. The tongue tip is dependent on the position of the tongue body. The upper lip is dependent on the position of the lower lip. For this exercise with vowels, you should be able to produce decent approximations to English vowels by manipulating only the jaw, tongue body, and lips.
    [Show full text]